Recently, I attended a presentation titled, Multiple Myeloma, State of the Art. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society hosted the speaker at its monthly MM support group meeting. I joined the group in 2009, a little over one year after being diagnosed with this blood cancer. It’s an active group with dozens of participants. Several are … More The University of Cancer, Part 2
I’ve been taking dexamethasone for my blood cancer, multiple myeloma, since 2007. The synergistic effect of this steroid with myeloma therapies is undisputed. They work, they are inexpensive, and can be taken orally. My cancer continues to wobble without direction, seemingly unable to focus its biology. I attribute much of the myeloma’s poor power of concentration to … More Dancing with Savvy
“While we speak, envious time will have already fled: … ” Horace When my wife and I moved into Hood River last April, a canopy of white blossoms greeted us from a flowering cherry in our yard. Once again, demitasse sized blooms decorate the tree. The petals detach and fall, shards of velvet that land undamaged on the … More Spring Reverie
I arrive at 8 am. Sam works admitting: name, birthdate, reason for being here. The data links me to my doctor’s orders. I receive a barcoded arm band. The infusatorium opens at 8:30. I wait, reading Web/MD magazine. I wonder if I could write for them. “No,” I decide, “I’m irrelevant. I’m no Brokaw or … More The Infusatorium
Soon after the New Year, I walked the perimeter of a sandbar on the Columbia. It juts north from the Oregon shore in Hood River and is called “The Spit.” Kite board enthusiasts know it as the largest sandy launch site in the Mid-Columbia Basin. From March through October, surfers take off from here and … More Down by the Riverside
Last week, the first snow of winter arrived. All day, fine grains of powder squeezed through a sieve of cloud and fell like glitter on top of the fence posts and the shoulders of the shrubbery and filled the crevices between the tiles on the garden path. Above me, geese gabbled among themselves, heading south, blind and … More The University of Cancer
My wife and I just returned from 10 days in New England. We entered Acadia National Park, in Maine, the afternoon prior to the government shutdown. There, we hiked to the summit of Cadillac Mountain and walked along the shores of Sand Beach and Jordan Pond. On the second day we followed the Great Meadow … More Leaf Litter, the ER, and Wobbling
The summer has been busy with family visits to Hood River. First, my wife’s youngest sister, Linda, arrived. She and her husband have government jobs overseas. They hope to eventually retire here, close to us. Their latest posting, however, is in Pakistan and a farewell peek at our new home seemed appropriate before departing. Then, … More A Busy Summer
“Our house is a very, very, very fine house. With two cats in the yard, Life used to be so hard …,” Crosby, Stills, and Nash Actually, there’s just one cat in the yard. At 16 pounds he has the heft of two, but Spanky, our tiger stripe rescue, prowls our new property alone. The … More Schrodinger’s Cat, Pandora’s Box, and a Pet Cat (Scan)
Baseball, hot dogs, and the American Flag symbolize our country’s national holiday. My sons will be together in California attending a game between the Giants and their arch rival, the Dodgers. My wife plans to do Hood River’s annual Fourth of July run/walk, a 7.2 mile event from mid-valley to downtown. Years ago, when I … More Flags
Good Blood, Bad Blood 